Redundant Hybrid P2p Content Sharing

1. A central server (Appendix B, FIG. 1 ) for a hybrid peer-to-peer (P2P) content sharing system including, for a particular user, a primary user device (Appendix B, FIG. 1 , device A) comprising a primary sharing engine for sharing content stored on the primary user device and at least one secondary user device (Appendix B, FIG. 1 , devices B, C, and D) comprising a secondary sharing engine for obtaining and sharing at least one version of the content shared by the primary user device (Appendix B, page 5, lines 2-5), comprising: a) a communication interface communicatively coupling the central server to a network (Appendix B, FIG. 1 ); and b) a control system (Appendix B, FIG. 1 , page 6, lines 12-16) associated with the communication interface and adapted to: i) receive a request for content shared by the user from a guest node via the network (Appendix B, page 3, lines 1-13, page 5, lines 16-17, and FIG. 1 ); ii) identify one of the primary user device associated with the particular user and the at least one secondary user device associated with the particular user as a user device for serving the request (Appendix B, Table A, page 5, lines 13-30), wherein the at least one secondary user device is automatically configured based on known capabilities of the at least one secondary user device (Appendix B, page 4, lines 9-12); and iii) route the request to the user device for serving the request via the network (Appendix B, FIG. 1 , page 3, lines 27-37).

2. The central server of claim 1 wherein the control system is further adapted to determine whether the primary user device is online and identify the primary user device as the user device for serving the request if the primary user device is online (Appendix B, page 5, lines 13-14).

3. The central server of claim 2 wherein the control system is further adapted to identify one of the at least one secondary user devices as the user device for serving the request if the primary user device is not online (Appendix B, page 3, lines 40-42).

4. The central server of claim 3 wherein if the primary user device is not online and the at least one secondary user device comprises a plurality of secondary user devices (Appendix B, Table A), the control system is further adapted to: identify ones of the plurality of secondary user devices hosting a desired version of the requested content (Appendix B, Table A, page 5, lines 17-32); if only one of the plurality of secondary user devices hosts the desired version of the requested content, identify the one of the plurality of secondary user devices as the user device for serving the request (Appendix B, page 3, lines 40-42); and if more than one of the plurality of secondary user devices host the desired version of the requested content, select the user device for serving the request from the more than one of the plurality of secondary user devices (Appendix B, Table A, page 5, lines 21-30).

5. The central server of claim 4 wherein the control system is further adapted to select the user device for serving the request from the more than one of the plurality of secondary user devices based upon at least one predetermined criterion for identifying an optimal user device (Appendix B, Table A, page 5, lines 21-32).

6. The central server of claim 2 wherein if the primary user device is not online, the control system is further adapted to determine whether the guest node is permitted to access the at least one secondary user device (Appendix B, page 6, lines 5-10).

7. The central server of claim 6 wherein the control system is further adapted to determine whether the guest node is permitted to access the at least one secondary user device based on at least one of a group consisting of: a list of guests permitted to access the at least one secondary user device, whether a guest associated with the guest node is an invited guest, and whether the guest associated with the guest node is a premium level user of the hybrid P2P content sharing system (Appendix B, page 6, lines 5-10).

8. The central server of claim 6 wherein if the guest node is permitted to access the at least one secondary user device, the control system is further adapted to identify one of the at least one secondary user devices as the user device for serving the request (Appendix B, page 6, lines 12-16).

9. The central server of claim 1 wherein the control system is further adapted to: determine whether there has been a primary sharing engine override (Appendix B, page 6, lines 21-23); and identify an optimal one of the primary user device and at least one secondary user device as the user device for serving the request if there has been a primary sharing engine override (Appendix B, page 6, lines 21-23).

10. A method for sharing content in a hybrid peer-to-peer (P2P) content sharing system including, for a particular user, a primary user device (Appendix B, FIG. 1 , device A) comprising a primary sharing engine for sharing content stored on the primary user device and at least one secondary user device (Appendix B, FIG. 1 , devices B, C, and D) comprising a secondary sharing engine for obtaining and sharing at least one version of the content shared by the primary user device (Appendix B, page 5, lines 2-5), comprising: receiving a request at a proxy from a guest node for content shared by the user (Appendix B, page 3, lines 1-13, page 5, lines 16-17, and FIG. 1 ); identifying one of the primary user device associated with the particular user and the at least one secondary user device associated with the particular user as a user device for serving the request (Appendix B, Table A, page 5, lines 13-30), wherein the at least one secondary user device is automatically configured based on known capabilities of the at least one secondary user device (Appendix B, page 4, lines 9-12); and routing the request to the user device for serving the request (Appendix B, FIG. 1 , page 3, lines 27-37).

11. The method of claim 10 wherein identifying one of the primary user device and the at least one secondary user device as the user device for serving the request comprises: determining whether the primary user device is online (Appendix B, page 5, lines 13-14); and identifying the primary user device as the user device for serving the request if the primary user device is online (Appendix B, page 5, lines 13-14).

12. The method of claim 11 wherein identifying one of the primary user device and the at least one secondary user device as the user device for serving the request further comprises: identifying one of the at least one secondary user devices as the user device for serving the request if the primary user device is not online (Appendix B, page 3, lines 40-42).

13. A hybrid peer-to-peer (P2P) content sharing system comprising: a primary user device (Appendix B, device A) associated with a user and comprising a primary sharing engine adapted to share content stored by the primary user device (Appendix B, page 5 lines 2-5); at least one secondary user device associated with the user and comprising a secondary sharing engine adapted to obtain and share at least one version of the content shared by the primary user device (Appendix B, FIG. 1 , devices B, C, D, page 5 lines 2-5), wherein the at least one secondary user device is automatically configured based on known capabilities of the at least one secondary user device (Appendix B, page 4, lines 9-12); and a central server communicatively coupled to the primary user device and the at least one secondary user device via a network and comprising a proxy adapted to (Appendix B, FIG. 1 ): receive a request for content shared by the user from a guest node (Appendix B, page 3, lines 10-13, page 5, lines 16-17, and FIG. 1 ); identify one of the primary user device and the at least one secondary user device as a user device for serving the request (Appendix B, Table A, page 5, lines 13-30); and route the request to the user device for serving the request (Appendix B, FIG. 1 , page 3, lines 27-37).

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the proxy is further adapted to determine whether the primary user device is online and identify the primary user device as the user device for serving the request if the primary user device is online (Appendix B, page 5, lines 13-14).

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the proxy is further adapted to identify one of the at least one secondary user devices as the user device for serving the request if the primary user device is not online (Appendix B, page 3, lines 40-42).

16. The system of claim 13 wherein the shared content comprises a plurality of media files and the requested content comprises one of the plurality of media files (Appendix B, page 3, lines 24-25).

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the primary user device is notified of a configuration of the secondary user device and is further adapted to provide at least a highest quality one of the at least one version of each of the plurality of media files to the secondary user device (Appendix B, page 5, lines 2-11).